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September 8, 1979saturday
Dalida fascinated her fans at the Piccadilly. September 11
A confrontation between the Phalangists and the Tachnag (Armenian militia) caused 24 dead, 30 wounded and 40 hostages in Nabaa and Bourj Hammoud.
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Dalida also sang at the new Summerland hotel in Jnah in September 1979 (de Clerck and Malsagne). The Kataeb-Tashnag clashes of 11 September belong to a series: Hanf records hostilities in May and September 1979, settled amicably; de Clerck and Malsagne date fighting to November; Traboulsi says that in 1978-1979 the Phalange and Chamoun's Tigers gradually subdued the Armenian militias, which would not pay them taxes.
September 12, 1979wednesday
The notables of Zghorta and Becharreh reconciled under the aegis of Patriarch Khoreiche. In a common declaration, the notables requested the deployment of the army in their region.
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September 15, 1979saturday
Several hundreds of women gathered at the Arts and Crafts garden and head towards the office of the Prime Minister. Most of them were originally from the South and they were claiming peace.
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September 20, 1979thursday
September 22, 1979saturday
President Elias Sarkis delivered an important speech, in which he emphasized the overriding role the army should play. Without it 'the State will be a body with no soul', he said. He insisted that the Arabs should stop to shilly-shally about Southern Lebanon.
\_this day in full the books also date it 13 March 1979 \_on this day
September 26, 1979wednesday
January 2, 1980wednesday
The chief of the 'Iranian volunteers', Hodjatolislam Mohammed Montazeri, held a press conference in Beirut during which he reasserted his men's determination to go to South Lebanon to 'fight imperialism and Zionism.' And he added: 'We will come by thousands.'
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De Clerck and Malsagne have Iranian clerics and activists settling in the Bekaa, and then in Tyre, from 1980, before 500 to 2,000 Revolutionary Guards entered Lebanon in June 1982.
January 18, 1980friday
A Shiite hijacked an MEA Boeing 707.
This airplane flying from Beirut to Larnaca had 72 passengers and 10 crewmembers onboard. The hijacker surrendered to the Lebanese authorities and claimed, in a press conference, the intensification of the efforts in order to find Imam Moussa Sadr. He also requested the positioning of the Lebanese army in South of Lebanon.
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January 21, 1980monday
The Lebanese army projected to deploy in South Lebanon while Israel was strongly opposed to this project.
\_this day in full the books also date it 20 March 1980 \_on this day
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Deploying the army, Sarkis insisted on his return from an Arab meeting at Ta'if in February 1980, should come before political reform (Traboulsi). Amal and the Phalange newspaper al-Amal also called for the army to be sent south (Traboulsi; Hanf).
January 22, 1980tuesday
The Arab Strike Force withdrew from the road going South. This initiative surprised the authorities.
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Hanf places it in early 1980. Palestine Liberation Army units under Syrian or pro-Syrian command took over the Syrian posts in and near Beirut, while the Syrian troops, bar one garrison, quit the city's dividing line and the coast road to the south and redeployed to the heights above the capital.
January 25, 1980friday
Fights opposed the Phalange Party and the NLP in Ehmej and Annaya. The road leading to Jbeil was closed. An acute crisis erupted between the two parties.
\_this day in full the books also date it 12 May 1979 \_on this day
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One of many clashes between Kataeb and National Liberal militiamen: de Clerck and Malsagne count 46, with 200 dead, from 1976 to 1980, the latest wave running from 12 May 1979 to 2 July 1980 and reaching Achrafieh early in 1980. Ménargues traces the tension of early 1980 partly to disputes over dividing the arms Israel supplied.
January 30, 1980wednesday
The situation worsened in Ehmej. Some sources reported 4 dead and 10 injured persons.
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See the note on the entry of 25 January 1980.
February 3, 1980sunday
Arab Strike Force units stationed in Beirut projected to withdraw towards Aley in the next few days. The decision surprised the government and the chief of State presided a meeting to study how to fill the gap.
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Historians describe the Syrian pull-back from Beirut in 1980 as a redeployment to the Bekaa and to mountain positions overlooking the capital, with a garrison kept in West Beirut (Hanf). The Lebanese army could not replace the departing Arab Deterrent Force everywhere (Picard).
February 7, 1980thursday
The most beautiful blue eyes in the world visited Lebanon. Alain Delon arrived at the Beirut International Airport and charmed the Lebanese.
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February 7, 1980thursday
Confrontations occurred between the Phalangists and the Zghortiotes in Knat, killing ten persons. Many fights opposing the two parties followed. Shells hit several villages in the cazas of Batroun, Koura, and Jbeil and over 10,000 civilians flew the combats. Finally, the Arab Strike Force entered Knat, and order was reestablished in the region on February 18.
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February 9, 1980saturday
Bahige Takieddine, Minister of Interior and Tourism, and deputy of the Chouf, died from a heart attack.
The Presidency of the Republic ordered national funerals and three days of mourning. Bahige Takieddine was born in 1909 in Baakline in the Chouf. He studied at the French Lycée then went to the Law School at Saint Joseph University. He was minister several times since 1974.
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February 13, 1980wednesday
February 23, 1980saturday
Criminal madness was unleashed in Lebanon. An odious assault was reported in the Sursock district. A car bomb killed 8 persons including Maya, Bechir Gemayel's 20 months old daughter, and injured 20 others. This explosion was aimed at the chief commander of the Lebanese Forces.
\_this day in full the books also date it 21 February 1980 \_on this day
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Ménargues writes that Bashir Gemayel usually took Maya to her grandmother's on Saturdays but, sick after the sea crossing from Jerusalem the day before, had her governess and his bodyguards take her in his car, which was blown up less than a kilometre from his home. He blames the Palestinians there; later he says an inquiry into Aman el-Mandoubine, a network run by a Fatah intelligence officer, led to the arrest of two Christians who planted the bomb. One annex dates the attack 21 February.
February 24, 1980sunday
Selim Laouzi, owner of the Hawadess, a local newspaper, was kidnapped on the Beirut International Airport road. The kidnapping of this eminent figure of the Lebanese press provoked strong emotions in the political environment and the Editors Syndicate decided to call for a strike.
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Officially no killer was named, but al-Lawzi's murder was widely blamed on his criticism of Syrian rule (Fisk; Picard). Fisk: he was seized near a Syrian army checkpoint heading for the airport.
September 26, 1980friday
An assault was launched against the US embassy in West Beirut. Two missiles were fired on the chancellery hitting the second and fourth floors. The aggressors remained unidentified.
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January 3, 1981saturday
After its withdrawal from Ain El Remmaneh on October 31, 1980 the Army repositioned on the main road axes in the region.
\_this day in full the books also date it 31 October 1980, 20 November 1980 \_on this day
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Dates differ. De Clerck and Malsagne's chronology has the Lebanese Forces controlling East Beirut from 31 October 1980. Ménargues puts the LF's 48-hour assault on Ain al-Remmaneh, held by Elias Hannouche's Chamounists, ten days after the 10 November car bombs, around 20 November 1980.
January 5, 1981monday
Michel Rocard, member of the French Socialist Party's national secretariat met with President Elias Sarkis, with the Minister of Foreign Affairs Chafic Wazzan, as well as with the PLO leader, Yasser Arafat.
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January 8, 1981thursday
The Arab Strike Force withdrew from Zahleh.
\_this day in full the books also date it 22 December 1980, 2 April 1981 \_on this day
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After the December 1980 clashes in Zahleh, Syrian troops gave up their checkpoints inside the town but kept it under blockade (Hanf). Ménargues, however, says ADF checkpoints were still on the town's main roads when Lebanese Forces fighters seized them in the first days of April 1981.
January 9, 1981friday
A new phase of the war started in Lebanon: the war of televisions. The 'Lebanese Forces' wanted to broadcast under the name 'Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation' and the Mourabitun seemed to be willing to give them hard time. As a result, they both emitted on the same channel and thus jammed the image.
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January 18, 1981sunday
Jean Francois Revel, the director of the French weekly magazine L'Express, left Beirut after a 48-hour visit. He declared before his departure: 'The actual drama in Lebanon is the result of the convergence of external factors rather than an internal crisis'.
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January 21, 1981wednesday
20,000 displaced persons from Damour participated in a peaceful walk towards the presidential palace to claim their return home.
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January 23, 1981friday
Combats were raging between militiamen from the Amal movement and the Popular Palestinian Liberation Front (PPLF) in Chyah.
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January 28, 1981wednesday
President Elias Sarkis delivered a speech at the Third Islamic States Summit in Taef, where he headed the Lebanese delegation. He declared: 'Lebanon cannot bear anymore the Palestinian armed presence on its land'.
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January 29, 1981thursday
The Israeli aviation bombarded Saida and Nabatyeh for two days. An artillery duel opposed the 'Common Forces' to the militiamen of Saad Haddad. These Israeli bombardments killed 14 and injured 30 others.
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January 31, 1981saturday
A violent storm hit Lebanon.
50 cars were totally stuck between Sofar and Mdeirej and their occupants spent the night in their vehicles. The Army was able to rescue 200 persons in the mountain.
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February 4, 1981wednesday
February 13, 1981friday
The kidnapping on February 6 in Beirut of the chargé d'affaires of Jordan in Lebanon, remained at the center of preoccupation of the country's leaders. They adopted a series of security measures for the protection of embassies.
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February 14, 1981saturday
February 18, 1981wednesday
The Council of Ministers centered part of its deliberations to the Sodeco region that was catching fire on a daily basis. Chafic Wazzan pledged to cease the fire.
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February 19, 1981thursday
His Beatitude Bishop Maximos V Hakim escaped a killing attempt on the road of Bhamdoun. The aggressors' identity was unknown.
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